Retro Dish Towels August 29, 2009

This is the first post that doesn’t quite involve quilting, but because of my interest in learning to quilt, I have branched out a bit and made this adventure of mine more about sewing and not just quilting. I have a few other non-quilting posts in progress, as well.

I picked up these kits at The Christmas Goose Quilt Shop in Las Vegas when I was there in April. They were at the checkout counter and so hard to resist for just $5 with their bright and inviting colors. I found out after my purchase that they’re Mary Engelbreit prints, so that explains my attraction to them since I love the colors and designs that Mary creates.

I bought one to make for my mom and one to make for myself, but now that I have the pattern, I plan to make several more. They were fairly easy to make, but I learned from a few of my mistakes in the two that I made. I have never sewn with rickrack, and I needed to do a better job tucking in the ends so they don’t ravel.

But I suppose that’s what learning to sew is all about…learning from your mistakes and making the next one even better. By the way, this is the first sewing project that I have completed that I have kept for myself. I have a few other projects of my own that I am working on, but so far I’ve given away all of my completed projects.  I hope to find the time to make more of these as gifts.

My mom’s is the one on the right and mine is on the left:

The sample towel in The Christmas Goose Quilt Shop. I wish I had taken a picture of the kits before I put them together.

Funky Frogs Quilt As You Go Quilt August 29, 2009

This project was a Quilt-As-You-Go that I got as an idea at Fabric Boutique. The idea is to use strips from a jelly roll, along with spray adhesive (the kind that washes out and is safe on fabrics…can be found in most fabric or quilt shops), your batting and binding, then sew it all together one strip at a time.

I couldn’t buy the kit while I was in Las Vegas in April because I couldn’t bring the spray adhesive on the plane with me, and that’s just too much to carry on a plane, anyway (as it is, I came back with 53 pounds of luggage from Vegas, thanks to all the quilt shop hops I did!). So I kept the idea in my head and did it my own way. It’s not technically made from a Jelly Roll set, but I did cut the strips as in jelly roll fashion.

The concept of Quilt-As-You-Go is an awesome method for me in making these baby quilts for friends because they can be made in much less time, because I’m sewing about half as much. It’s also easier because the quilts are smaller than most. I’m still not fast enough to make a quilt in a day, but this method sure lessened the work, which made it go by much faster. While I’m trying to make each of the baby quilts slightly different, I will probably use a similar method on the next baby quilt that I make.

I made this for a friend’s baby shower for her baby due in September, Abbi Grace.

The sample picture from Fabric Boutique:

If you are interested in the kit above, Fabric Boutique sells the complete kit on their website. Just look under kits, and it’s the third one down (as of 8/29/09).

UPDATE:  http://adventuresinquilting.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/funky-frogs-quilt-as-you-go-update/